My goal is to better understand how the brain controls blood pressure, both under normal conditions and in the presence of disorders that raise blood pressure. Currently, my laboratory focuses on two conditions that lead to high blood pressure: obesity and sleep apnea. Both of these conditions change how the brain controls blood pressure, but the mechanisms are not well understood. Although, ideally, obesity and sleep apnea can be managed, many find it difficult to control body weight in the long term and not may tolerate current treatments for sleep apnea. As these conditions continue to become more prevalent, the cardiovascular disease that accompanies them also becomes a major health issue nationwide. The current treatments for high blood pressure are numerous, and many medications act within the brain to control blood pressure.
Our work examines which treatments are ideal for management of cardiovascular disease with these conditions by determining how the brain changes with obesity and sleep apnea and whether current medications can reverse these changes. Because high blood pressure has many causes, treatments should be individually optimized to best manage control of blood pressure in the context of the conditions that accompany it.